GRASSHOPPER WARBLER 89 



is extremely shy and difficult to see, creeping about as 

 it does in tangled masses of bramble and furze. 



Mr. C. Collingwood states that the " earliest one 

 observed among the summer arrivals at Shooter's Hill 

 was on April 17, 1854." 



It was seen on the top of Boxley Hills on April 23, 

 1867. 



There is a female in the Maidstone Museum, with the 

 nest and two eggs, which were obtained on May 11, 

 1882, at Hollingbourne, by Mr. J. Coveney. 



On June 5, 1906, the Grasshopper Warbler was heard 

 in the woods at Bilsington, and no doubt had a nest 

 there, but it could not be found. 



Mr. E. T. Filmer writes that it is rare : " I usually 

 managed to hear one in the summer, but I have never 

 seen one. The path from the railway bridge towards 

 Orlestone Church is a good place on a nice evening for 

 one to be heard." 



In his Ornitliology of Kent, 1844, the Rev. J. Pem- 

 berton Bartlett says it is " common," and Dr. A. G. 

 Butler found it breeding in Stockbury valley in Kent. It 

 is also mentioned by the Rev. C. H. Fielding as among 

 the summer visitors at Higham and the Mailing valley, 

 and Mr. G. Dowker says it is rare in the Stourmouth 

 district, and adds the following localities in which it has 

 been observed : Nonington, W. 0. Hammond ; Dover, 

 C. Gordon and Dr. F. Flomley; Folkestone, H. Ullyett. 

 In the Birds of Rainham, Mr. W. Prentis mentions " a 

 singular variety obtained on June 5, 1869. Back, 

 greenish-brown, with darker markings ; breast, greenish- 

 yellow, without spots. It was a male, shot while 

 singing." 



The late Mr. A. D. Bartlett, in his youth, being an 



